STAGE 95

 Return to the BUILD


“The last step for constructing the rear body is to fix the wheel arches. Once that’s done, you’ll mount it onto the main assembly.”

 

Contents


Parts

Materials: Both of the Wheel Arches in this stage are plastic.

Build


Installing the Rear Wheel Arches

Right before I started this stage, I received this customized Assembly Cushion from Ian Campbell over at Partwork Upgrades and I had no idea why.

Apparently, the amazing group over at Model Crafting Club UK joined forces and sent me this cushion as a thanks for all the work I do in the partwork community. I can not thank them enough and appreciate the support! You will see me using this cushion going forward:

Step 1

Note these tabs on the Wheel Arches (arrows below) and the three mounting posts for each.

The two Wheel Arches are not the same, as seen here:

Step 2

Retrieve your Rear Body assembly from the previous stage and place it upside down on a soft surface. After moving the Speaker and Rear Light LED wiring out of the way, slide the tab of the Right Rear Wheel Arch into this matching slot of the Rear Body:

Next, lower the Rear Wheel Arch down onto the mounting posts of the Rear Body:

I first slid this corner of the Wheel Arch around the edge of the Rear Body:

Then, with some rearward force, I could pop the posts of the Wheel Arch down into the matching recesses of the Rear Body (arrow below). Note how the forward mounting tab (circled below) fits into this spot on the Rear Body:

When fully inserted into place, the Wheel Arch should look like this:

Step 3

Begin securing this Wheel Arch into place with two (2) Type B screws, as shown:

Finish securing this Wheel Arch to the Rear Body with one (1) Type S screw.

This is your friendly reminder to try using 3-in-One Oil on all screws going into metal:

Step 4

Repeat this process to fit the Left Rear Wheel Arch into place on the Rear Body. Again, move the Rear Light LED wiring out of the way, insert the tab into the slot, and lower the Arch posts into place:

Begin securing the Wheel Arch into place with two (2) Type B screws here:

Finish attaching this Left Rear Wheel Arch with one (1) Type S screw here:

Fitting the Rear Body

Step 5

Retrieve your main Body assembly from Stage 84. Fit this Rear Body assembly down onto the rear of the car, as shown. With the Rear Body fitted, use pieces of masking tape to secure it in the correct position:

Align the seam across the roof and down along the door pillars. Also, take care to make sure the Rear Light wiring is not trapped inside the model:

Step 6

Carefully turn the entire car upside down and place it on a soft surface. Rotate the left Rear Bonnet Hinge (that we attached to the Rear Frame earlier) until the pins can be inserted into the matching holes at this location on the Boot Compartment, then secure this Rear Bonnet Hinge into place with one (1) Type B screw:

A quick reminder that these are the Rear Body Hinges we installed earlier:

The Rear Body needs to be positioned so these Hinges can be fitted to the matching mounting locations on the Boot Compartment (circled below):

I missed taking pictures of these Type B screws until later in the build, so ignore the chrome Tailpipe parts you see here:

Repeat this process to secure the right Rear Bonnet Hinge to the Boot Compartment with one (1) more Type B screw:

Step 7

Check that the opening and closing of the Rear Body works correctly and the fit is flush to the body when closed.

On my model, this did not happen. Once attached, my Rear Body was too far away from the top Central Bodywork leaving a sizable gap:

Additionally, the right side of my Rear Body seemed to be bent away from the Central Bodywork:

To fix this second part, I had to remove my Rear Body then slowly and gently bend the entire thing to better fit the shape of the Central Bodywork. This is not easy and requires strength and patience. As for the spacing to the Rear Bodywork along the entire seam, Agora did provide help.

If necessary, the gap between this Rear Body section and the Central Bodywork can be adjusted. It does require temporary removal of the Rear Body. The screws that hold the Silencer Support Plate to the Rear Frame can be tightened/loosened to change the body gap.

Start with the lower two screws first. Tightening the screws should close the body gap, loosening them should widen it:

With the Rear Body removed again, you will see the Exhaust system may be in the way of these screws:

However, you can get to the two lower screws easy enough. My problem was the Rear Body was not close enough to the Central Bodywork, and these screws were already fully tightened:

It turns out that altering these screws can also change the angle at which the Rear Body sits on the car. When I loosened them, it actually fit a bit better. I even tried removing the Exhaust system and installed some M3 washers to the inside of the Silencer Support to keep this at an angle. However, this did not work well at all:

After lots of trial and error, I found a solution that worked for me. I needed to lengthen the holes of the ‘prongs’ of the Silencer Support towards the rear of the car. I did this with a round needle file. I also filed down the end of the ‘prongs’ so they would not hit the Rear Body (arrow below):

With this extra bit of ‘wiggle room’, I was able to mount my Rear Body and have it rest on the Central Bodywork with the correct alignment:

Opening and closing the Rear Body works perfectly as well:

Thoughts


It was not easy to get this Rear Body aligned the way I wanted it. But, with the Rear Body now attached, our Miura is really starting to take on its fantastic shape! I recommend leaving tape on the Rear Body to keep this section closed up until the end of the build.

Next Up


 Stage 96 – Wheel Rim, Pirelli Tyre, Hub Caps, Bertone Script/Logo

2 thoughts on “STAGE 95”

  1. All the work you had to do to get the rear panel aligned properly should have never occurred. I’ve read a ton of comments on Facebook forms all complaining about poor body alignment.
    If I followed your process correctly, the key modification you did to correctly align the rear panel was to enlarge, or “widen” the hole of the Silencer Support, and also file down the end so that it did not come in contact of the Rear Body.
    Normally I would make a note of this in the instructions to remind me to do that prior to installing the part. But in this case, I’m guessing that each build may be different, so this solution is not a “one-size-fits-all”(?)

    If the car was not as beautiful as it is, I’d pass it up. But I can’t. It looks too cool!

    1. Yeah, I blame it on variations in manufacturing vs necessarily a fault of design. I feel each model and how it is treated while shipping is going to affect each builder separately.

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